Interest in the vascular causes of various brain disorders including Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, mild cognitive impairment, depression, and other behavioral disorders has grown immensely over the last decade. Stroke, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia have all been shown to be risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. Recent evidence also suggests that Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia may be delayed or even prevented by treatment of vascular risk factors such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia. The potential implications of these findings span a diverse arena of both scientific and clinical interest. It is increasingly apparent that a forum for discussion and education on vascular causes of these various brain disorders is needed. Such a forum would also develop research strategies to address key issues in cerebrovascular diseases. To this end, The First Congress of the International Society for Vascular Behavioral and Cognitive Disorders (VAS-COG) proposes to bring diverse basic science and clinical research interest together for the study of vascular causes of various brain disorders, as well as to serve as a vehicle for the dissemination of this information, patient advocacy and training of researchers. This meeting will present in one large Congress the most recent advances in the field, including diagnostic and therapeutic developments by internationally recognized opinion leaders. [unreadable] [unreadable]